Status attainment, social support, social cleavages the integrational aspects of social networks

Abstract

Abstract The role of social networks in social integration can be diverse. They can help the attainment of different statuses; prevent someone from social exclusion through social support; or help the macro integration of the society through the bounding of different and distant groups. In this paper, we examine how the different network aspects (and the methods that measure these dimensions) correlate with the integration on microand macro level. Based on the name-generator, position-generator and summation method, six network indicators were defined. Based on these indicators, we created a network milieu typology that contained seven groups. Correlations of status attainment, social support and macro-level integration with the milieu typology were analysed via regression models. Our results have two main implications. On the one hand, the vertical aspects of the network dimensions seem more important than the horizontal ones. On the other hand, core ties seem to be the most relevant parts of the networks in all measured dimensions. These results strengthen our point, as the most important aspect of integration in present Hungarian society is the strong core network. Key words: Social network, name-generator, summation method, position-generator, status attainment, social support, social rif